The basics of seo.

1. SEO:
Search
Engine
Op/miza/on
Is
that
just
wri/ng
spammy
stuff
or
code
for
the
search
bots?
Monique
SherreA
monique@boxcarmarke/ng.com

2. SEO
Facts
&
Myths
Tell
me
what
you’ve
heard…

3. SEO
Facts
&
Myths
So
this
SEO
copywriter
walks
into
a
bar,
grill,
pub,
public
house,
Irish
bar,
bartender,
drinks,
beer,
wine,
liquor

4. Don’t
be
that
guy

6. Things
You
Should
Know
About
Search
(and
therefore
SEO)

7. SEO
is
CDO
“Content
Discovery
Op/miza/on”
Jesse
McDougall
of
Catalyst
Webworks,
TOC

8. Social
Cues
External
Cues
On-­‐page
Cues

9. Computers
Are
Dumb

10. The
Seman/c
Web
The
Seman/c
Web
describes
the
rela/onships
between
things
(like
A
is
a
part
of
B
and
Y
is
a
member
of
Z)

11. Pre-­‐2008 ————— Search Engines

12. How
Search
Works

13. Search
Bots
Try
to
Mimic
Humans
Social
Cues External
Cues On-­‐Page
Cues
• Stars • Site
is
crawlable • Keywords
• Reviews • No
duplicate
content • Title
tag
Origina/ng
source? • Meta
descrip/on
• Image,
Video
• Incoming
links • Heading
tags
• Social
sharing #
of
links
+1’d Anchor
text • 1st
200
words
Shared
by Quality/type: • Bold
Tweets Comment • Anchor
text
Text
link
YouTube • Image
filename
Blogroll • Internal
links
Ad
• Page
load
speed
• Bounce

14. French
paren/ng
book

15. French
paren/ng
book
Social
Cues

16. French
paren/ng
book
Social
Cues
External
Cues

17. French
paren/ng
book
Social
Cues
External
Cues
On-­‐Page
Cues

18. What
does
the
bot
know?

19. On-­‐Page
Cues

20. On-­‐Page
Cues

21. The
cues
are
missing

22. “coverimage”
9780143182573H.jpg”
265
x
400
alt="Image
of
EVERYTHING
WAS
GOOD-­‐BYE">
“authorphoto”
2000000469L.jpg

23. SEO
is
about
Content
Discovery
Social
Cues External
Cues On-­‐Page
Cues
• Rich
snippets • Site
is
crawlable • Keywords
Stars • No
duplicate
content • Title
tag
Reviews Origina/ng
source? • Meta
descrip/on
Authorship • Incoming
links • Heading
tags
Image,
video #
of
links
Anchor
text • 1st
200
words
• Social
sharing Quality/type: • Bold
+1’d Comment • Anchor
text
Shared
by Text
link
YouTube • Image
filename
Tweets
Blogroll • Internal
links
Ad
• Page
load
speed
• Bounce

24. SEO
Factors
within
Your
Control
Marke)ng Technical Editorial
• Body
copy
• Incoming
links • Site
is
crawlable – 1st
200
words
– #
links • Page
load
speed • Duplicate
content
– Quality/type • Title
tag – Who
gets
what
– Anchor
text • Meta
descrip/on • Keywords
• Image
filename • Heading
tag:
H1,
H2 • Bold
• Social
sharing • Rich
snippet
code • Anchor
text
– +1’d – Stars • Image
cap/ons
– Shared
by – Reviews • Bounce
• Internal
links
– Tweets – Authorship
– Image,
video

25. Roles
are
shiting
• What
is
a
marke/ng
func/on?
• What
is
a
IT
func/on?
• Where
do
these
func/ons
fall?
– Website
design
– Website
maintenance
– Video,
audio,
ebook,
app
produc/on
– Asset
management
– ONIX
file
genera/on,
distribu/on
– SEO
– Domains,
email,
server
setup

27. Google
vs.
Amazon
Two
Discovery
Channels

28. Different
Algorithm.
Same
Factors.
Google
Ranking
Factors Amazon
Ranking
Factors
• Social
Cues • Social
Cues
– Reviews
&
Ra/ngs – Reviews
&
Ra/ngs
– Sharing – Sharing
(Lists)
• External
Cues • External
Cues
– Endorsements
(links) – Endorsements
(Co-­‐op,
• On-­‐Page
Cues Affiliate)
– Keywords
in
Copy • On-­‐Page
Cues
– Links
to
related
content – Keywords
in
Copy
– Links
to
related
content

29. Prisoner
of
Tehran
Your
Publisher-­‐Supplied
Copy
Does
Not
Appear
Social
Cues
get
the
)tle
into
the
recommenda)on
engine
(Amazon
results)
On-­‐Page
Cues
get
the
book
page
into
search
results
on
Google
1. 13
customer
reviews.
Like
2. Share
your
own
customer
images.
3. Frequently
bought
together
4. Customers
who
bought
this
item
also
bought
5. Average
customer
review
6. Bestseller
Rank
7. Descrip/ons
from
Reviews
8. Tags
customers
associate
with
this
product
9. What
other
items
Customers
Buy
Ater
Viewing
this
Item
10. Customer
Reviews
(2
columns!)
11. Listmania
12. Look
for
similar
items
by
category
/
subject
13. Con/nue
shopping:
Customers
who
bought
items
in
your
recent
history
also
bought

30. Why
does
Amazon
win
vs.
the
Publisher
site?

31. Because
…

32. Why
does
Amazon
win?
Goodreads?
Raincoast.com
627
words
Amazon.ca
2,943
words
Goodreads
3,457
words
Amazon.
Focus
keywords:
Beau/ful
Mystery
(13),
Louise
Penny
(14)
Gamache
(25),
murder
(8),
mystery
(33),
Suspense
(6),
Fic/on
(8),
detec/ve
(9)
Raincoast.
Beau/ful
Mystery
(2),
Louise
Penny
(3)
Gamache
(4),
murder
(2),
mystery
(3),
Suspense
(0),
Fic/on
(2),
detec/ve
(0)
Goodreads.
Beau/ful
Mystery
(14),
Louise
penny
(20)
Gamache
(37),
murder
(15),
mystery
(32),
Suspense
(1),
Fic/on
(1),
detec/ve
(1)

33. Without
Social
Cues
…

34. The
On-­‐Page
Cues
Are
Cri/cal.
Search
bots
will
try
to
figure
out
the
“theme”
of
a
page’s
content
within
the
first
200
words.
If
you
only
write
200
word
descrip/ons,
you
beAer
choose
the
right
words.

35. The
Right
Words
Are
What
I
Mean
By
Keyword
Phrases

37. Keyword
Phrases
• Keyword
phrases
are
the
words
people
type
into
a
search
engine
in
order
to
find
things
on
the
web.

38. French
paren/ng
book

39. French
paren/ng
book
Keyword
Phrases
appear
in
SERPs
in
bold.

40. What
are
the
keyword
phrases?
• Headline:
Universal
Orlando
Resort
Celebrates
The
One-­‐Year
Anniversary
of
The
Wizarding
World
of
Harry
PoAer
• Summary:
Universal
Orlando
Resort
creates
special
moment
for
guests
celebra/ng
in
Hogsmeade
and
extends
the
virtual
celebra/on
to
the
all-­‐new
"Share
Your
Story"
Facebook
tab
that
allows
guests
to
share
their
favorite
memories
from
this
spectacularly
themed
entertainment
environment.
• Body:
ORLANDO,
Fla.
(June
18,
2011)
-­‐
Today,
Universal
Orlando
Resort
celebrated
the
one-­‐year
anniversary
of
the
most
spectacularly
themed
entertainment
environment
-­‐
The
Wizarding
World
of
Harry
PoAer.
In
live
celebra/ons,
and
virtual
celebra/ons
through
the
resort’s
“Share
Your
Story”
Facebook
tab,
guests
were
invited
to
share
the
wonder,
excitement
and
adventures
of
the
Harry
PoAer
books
and
films
come
to
life.

41. Body
Copy
—
1st
200
characters

42. “most
ambi/ous
and
heartbreaking
work”
605
results
for
blogs
in
Canada

43. If
it’s
good,
people
repeat
it.

44. The
5
Whys
Reasons
Why
You
Should
Write
SEO
Copy
1. Because
you
want
people
to
find
your
stuff
when
they
don’t
even
know
they
are
looking
for
it.
(In
the
real
world,
you
make
sure
the
book
is
in
stock.)
2. Because
the
copy
needs
to
be
a
good
salesperson.
(The
online
sales
funnel
goes
like
this:
you
like
it,
buy
it,
review
it,
recommend
it,
find
more
like
it.)
3. Because
you
want
to
teach
fans
how
to
best
pitch
their
friends.
(1,000
songs
in
your
pocket.)
4. Because
you
don’t
want
to
disappoint
people
who
are
looking
for
it:
• Bookseller
doing
price
check.
Producer
scou/ng
for
author
interview.
Fan
who
wants
to
pre-­‐order.
Reviewer
who
wants
an
image.
Person
who
wants
to
recommend.
Author.
Agent.
Just
checking.
5. Because
you
want
to
stack
the
deck.

45. Because
you
want
to
sell
books.

46. SEO
Copywri/ng
Resources
• Geek:
SEOmoz.org
&
SEOBook.com
• Marketer:
Underwire:
Full
Support
for
Non-­‐Techies
• Writer:
Copyblogger.com

47. Test:
November
30
• In-­‐class
test.
Bring
pen(s),
calculator,
brain.
• Week
4
(Sept
28):
How
to
write
a
persona
• Week
5
(Oct
5):
How
to
write
a
good
email
subject
line,
a
good
tweet,
good
press
release
headline,
good
pitch
leAer
• Week
6
(Oct
12)
&
Week
11
(Nov
16):
Familiarity
with
online
tools
and
how
they
could
be
used
• Week
7
(Oct
27):
Grid
view
of
a
marke/ng
plan
• Week
7
(Oct
27):
Calculate
ecommerce
conversion,
CTR,
CPC,
know
the
terms
“revenue”
and
“expenses”
• Week
12
(Nov
23):
How
to
pick
out
keywords
41